We talked with Good Food Festival producer Jim Slama about what the event is and what you can experience at the various demos, talks, and gatherings that are part of a celebration of the Santa Monica Farmers' Market and a larger dialogue about improving L.A.'s foodscape. more ›

Michael Gargiulo, known as the "Hollywood Ripper," is off to Chicago to face charges for the 1993 murder of a teenager. However, this isn't his first run-in with the law, or his first murder rap: Gargiulo "is already being held for a series of other alleged crimes, including the 2001 stabbing" of Ashton Kutcher's onetime girlfriend, explains KTLA. more ›

Los Angeles' foodie Twitterati went into a tailspin on Sunday when they caught Chicago-based Top Chef Master Rick Bayless dissing the city's favorite food writing son, Jonathan Gold in a Tweet: "@thejgold Thought a Pulitzer meant you checked facts. Sneering at me for something I never said is either mean or sloppy. I'm offended." more ›

The French are apparently horrified that nary a one of their dining establishments ranked in the top ten of a list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants released this week by S. Pellegrino. But for us Californians, something "French" is pretty much all we've got, thanks to the inclusion of just one of our restaurants: Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Yountville (#32). more ›

Even before the recent gourmet food truck craze, there was an estimated 4,000 taco trucks operating in Los Angeles county. That number dwarfs the 90 or so trucks (complete list here!) that dominate water cooler talk these days, but imagine, if you will, living in a city without taco or gourmet trucks? more ›

Details are out now about well-known Chicago-based chef Rick Bayless' foray into L.A. The innovator of Mexican cuisine in America is partly behind a new Melrose Ave endeavor in the former Table 8 Moustache Cafe space. Red O is Bayless' only venture outside of Chi-Town, however his role will largely be a bit more hands-off than previous speculations. Bayless will be creating and updating the menu seasonally... more ›

Breadline Productions, a new theater company in these parts that presented more than 20 original plays in a previous Chicago incarnation, is now introducing itself to Los Angeles audiences with the world premiere staging of 11, September at the Odyssey Theatre on Sepulveda Boulevard. Written by and co-starring company artistic director Paul Kampf, 11, September mostly takes place in the New York apartment of a young waitress who hooks up with one of her café customers, an out-of-town professor participating in a conference to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. Whether by fate, design or coincidence, then, the pair’s respective disclosures reveal that their lives are more tightly, and tragically, entwined than their evidently random initial encounter had indicated. more ›

Attempting New York style pizza in Los Angeles is always a contentious effort. But what about the rarer find that is Chicago style deep dish pizza? BJ's attempt at it is a fallacy and Yelpers are mostly "meh" for Taste Chicago in Burbank (they like Dino's in Burbank a little more). On a recent taste journey, LAist tried NY+C Pizzeria and Bar in Santa Monica (we haven't tasted the NY part, yet), where the above photos are from. more ›

Our sister blog Chicagoist is reporting that Oprah might be moving her show to Los Angeles. That's via Deadline Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke, who doesn't name a source. If true, then Oprah could be here by 2011 and the show would air on her own channel, ending syndication. But Oprah's people say no decisions have been made yet. This would also mean she'll be closer to her Montecito home near Santa Barbara. more ›

"If it's a million degrees and the world is on fire, where do we have a show? The desert," Kevin Richard, lead guitarist for the Mannequin Men, laughs from his van heading up Highway 5, "That's how we roll. If there was an epic snowstorm right now we'd be playing Quebec." Humor is what makes these Chicago garage rockers so much fun to watch. Their sound is meat and potatoes garage rock influenced heavily by the Stooges and the Replacements, but underneath the snotty vocals you can hear genuine discontent spiked with a dash of raunchy humor. Like the Black Lips, these guys write about a generation of kids who finished school to enter world to a world which has no employment for them. They write for those who are worn out and frustrated by working dead end jobs with no sign of things turning around. The Mannequin Men harness this rage and turn it into fuel for their songs with some sprinklings of sexual frustration just for kicks. more ›

Although the original source of the controversial Obama poster appears to be a student in Chicago (he made the joker face and posted it on Flickr. Then someone apparently mashed it up with the word "socialism"), a conservative radio talk show has exploited the posters further making a contest out of it. The posters were first noted in Los Angeles back in April and received widespread attention beginning August 3rd. Seeing an opportunity, talk show host Alex Jones began a contest encouraging people to put up more posters. The poster had "Democrats and Obamanoids going ballistic," his website said. Some of Jones' posters--with his website address on one version--have appeared in San Francisco, but around 500 appeared in a Florida town leading to the questioning of at least one teenager. Previously: Shepard Fairey Opines on Obama Socialism Posters. more ›

It's made the internet rounds in the pas few years and today sister site Chicagoist talks up an Egyptian Bust from sometimes between 1550 BC and 1050 BC that is currently in the collection at the Field Museum. The bust's nose has a striking similarity to Jackson's post surgery one. "95% of Egyptian statues and busts were defiled by early Christians and Muslims because they were used for idolatry," a Museum spokesperson said. "They looked at these as idols and taking the nose off made them 'non-human.'" Chicagoist is not sure if that applies to Jackson, too. In any case, do you remember the time? more ›

Chicagoist finds that a bakery is selling cookies with the face of Michael Jackson on it and ponders... "While we found something tragic about eating Michael Jackson's face, these cookies got us thinking, are there any celebrities we would actually like to see be displayed on food items upon their death? Would you want to stretch out and chew on pink Spencer Pratt face taffy or slice and devour a Kim Jong Il face cake? Or would you feel better eating a beloved Katherine Heigl face scone? Ok. We're creeped out. No more face dessert." more ›

Who eats foie gras? Not West Hollywood restaurant-goers, at least not anymore. Despite the recent failure of Chicago's City Council to ban foie gras in that city, West Hollywood is charging ahead with a new city ordinance to prevent the sale of foie gras in restaurants. more ›

That's the hot mess happening in Chicago right now. In a 75-year, $1.15 billion lease between the City of Chicago and Morgan Stanley, the bank gets to operate and earn revenue from 36,000 parking meters and several parking structures in the city. Not only that, the city just significantly increased parking meter rates and expanded hours and enforecable hours--including Sundays, some holidays and 24/7 in downtown. The city still gets to enforce and keep revenue from parking tickets, but Morgan Stanley can do supplemental enforcement in parking garages. more ›

The man behind the wheels of last night's car chase is unofficially identified as Mustafa "Moe" Mustafa. His name has not been released by authorities but family members and police sources told the LA Times his identity. After shooting himself when SWAT team members surrounded the car, he was transported in very critical condition to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Last night's car chase began shortly before 8 p.m. and was widely suspected to be Chris Brown and then DJ Khaled. The LAPD continued to say throughout the incident the suspect was not a high profile person. more ›

Oscar statues are actually made 2,000 miles away in Chicago. So sister site to LAist, Chicagoist, made a visit to the factory. Here's a sample: "Oscar starts life as an ingot of britannia metal (think high-class pewter). Always the achiever, he receives his first casting call early. The ingot is melted in a small furnace and the molten metal is then poured into a mold bearing the familiar pose. The casting process is an art in itself, requiring precise temperature control, timing and mold manipulation..." more ›

Dear Gothamist and Chicagoist, more ›

An Amtrak train bound for Los Angeles partially derailed this afternoon as it left Chicago's union station, making it the third coast city's second train incident of the day. None of the 116 passengers aboard the Southwest Chief train were hurt after "two sets of wheels came off the tracks as the train was departing around 3:15 p.m. (1:15 p.m. PST)," reported the Associated Press. "The train was traveling at a slow speed." Update: The train was still sitting on the tracks as of 5:20 p.m. PST. "Replacement equipment will arrive at the scene within the hour and the train will proceed West-running about 5 hours late," said Amtrak spokesperson Clifford Cole in an e-mail to LAist. more ›

Southwest Flight 688 on its way to Los Angeles was taxiing at Chicago's Midway Airport around 9 a.m. yesterday morning when it's right main gear got stuck in the snow on the shoulder of the taxiway. As the day went on, temperatures in Chicago warmed up drastically causing dense fog to cover the region. And then what happened? All flights at Midway were canceled shortly after 6 p.m. ending in 80 canceled flights. Over at the city's main airport, around 400 flights were canceled. If all this trouble has you stuck somewhere out there, The Travel Doctor keeps his list of airports with free Wi-Fi updated. more ›

Second City is a name synonymous with theatre and comedy. From early roots in Chicago and Toronto, Second Citizens have gone on to become some of the most recognized and revered comedy faces to dot the landscape of the past few decades. Perhaps no other improv / sketch comedy theatre has been as nationally influential in bringing about the current comedy scene we have today. And with outposts all across America, Second City has always put itself in a position to succeed. more ›

Venerable Chicago-based band The Sea and Cake hit the Troubadour this week for a pair of shows in support of their October release Car Alarm (Thrill Jockey). Playing together since 1993, core members Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt--along with drummer John McEntire and bassist Eric Claridge--proved in their almost 2-hour set Thursday night that rocking out isn't just for the young. more ›

This is one of those times it's good to be behind in the polls. Chicagoist reports: "We're third in population, but first in murders. For the first time in 10 years, Chicago has surpassed New York City in murders (and L.A. to boot). As of Tuesday, Chicago has had 426 murders so far in 2008 compared to 417 for New York City and 302 for L.A." more ›

Via Gawker, we find Homethinking who has launched a nifty tool comparing neighborhoods in one city to another city. It's fun, but beware: their methodology is not income based ('cause rent is just a tad higher on Manhattan), but rather demographics such as "age, marital status, whether the household has kids or not and the frequency of arts and culture activities," as they explain. It's a start... more ›

Could it actually happen? A spokesman for BetOnline.com e-mailed over saying he has calculated the odds: "With the Dodgers two wins away from a trip to the NLCS, and the Angels in a 1-0 hole... [the] odds on a possible Dodgers-Angels 'Freeway' World Series," are 7-to-1, he explained. "Not to be left out, a Cubs-White Sox 'Red Line' World Series is currently at 9-to-1." If that happens, can Mayor V and the Anaheim Mayor make a bet? If the Dodgers win, Anaheim can't use "Los Angeles" in their team name anymore. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. pfffft. more ›

So, get this. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley just made a friendly fun bet. If the Dodgers win the playoff series against the Chicago Cubs (the first game is going on right now), Chicago will hand over their 2016 Olympic bid that we lost. And if the Cubs win, Chicago gets to take LA Times owner Sam Zell back. more ›

Bernie Mac, star of the popular 2001-2006 Fox series "The Bernie Mac Show" and of several top films, has died, according to his publicist Danica Smith. Mac was 50. He died early this morning in the Chicago hospital where he'd been receiving treatment for pneumonia; Mac had a condition known as sarcoidosis, according to KNBC.com, which is "an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs," although the comedian said the illness had been in remission. Mac, who was born and raised in Chicago, began working as a professional comedian in the late 70s, and developed a cult following in the 90s due to his multiple film appearances. Despite being in many well-known films and tv shows and specials, Mac did not give up his sense of self or his ties to Chicago. Mac is survived by his wife of 30 years, Rhonda, their daughter Je'Niece, and his granddaughter Jasmine. more ›

LA Weekly readers will notice that Jonathan Gold (ahem, PulitzerPrizeWinning-FoodWriterExtraordinaire-JonathanGold is his official title, I believe) has been a little obsessed with hot dogs lately. First there was his extended meditation on his father's food legacy and the importance of the Chicago-style hot dog: "weekends were often dominated by [Gold Sr's] search for hot dogs in Los Angeles, and he would drive me and my brothers around for hours in the old Studebaker on the rare occasions he found a stand that he liked." Gold's best bets for Chicago-style in L.A.? The Infield in Sherman Oaks, Portillo's in Buena Park, and Vicious Dogs in North Hollywood. more ›

But why does a city that's under ice half the year have a better system of bike lanes, not to mention a bike-riding mayor, while Villaraigosa has a deputy mayor for transportation who dopes around L.A. in his Hummer? more ›

Walter Meego is not a dude, it's actually Justin Sconza (vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Colin Yarck (keyboards, computer), a Chicago-bred but LA-living electronic-alt-pop duo. Throw Andrew Bernhardt in the mix (or on the mix, hmmm?) and you've got one hell of a kick-ass live band. They hit the El Rey earlier this week as the openers on The Presets' tour, playing to a sold out crowd. more ›